Cage for naughty boys

Overheard in the Park this afternoon…

A mother with two little boys were walking by this…

Where naughty boys go

…and the older boy stopped and stared.

“What is that for, mummy?” He asked, staring in wonder.
“That’s where the Park Ranger puts naughty boys. So you’d better behave yourself.”
“But I could just climb out of the top of it!” He crowed, triumphantly confident of his climbing skills.
“Ah, but the Ranger has a special lid that goes on the top for little boys who can climb.”

As they walked on, the little boy kept looking back, presumably planning an escape strategy.

There are a few of them in the Park. They protect the young trees from deer nibbles and, presumably, little boys who climb. The wood is from the Park, taken from felled trees. Nice and sustainable. How it should be.

The Park looked particularly beautiful today. The weather was generally sunny but with a ridge of big, black, bulging clouds approaching from the south, promising a soaking…that never came. To be honest, a torrential downpour would have been rather handy. Emma managed to cover herself in mud, requiring a longer than usual bath.

Most of the mud came from a sloppy pool of molten dirt sitting in a depression by a gate which she felt she had to splosh through a number of times. However, she also managed quite a bit of mud collection during her romp with Chelsea.

Chelsea was a border collie cross and he’d been stalking the Girls for a while along the Queen’s Bottom, finally reaching them and surprising Day-z with a wet nose up the bum. While she jumped, barked and backed away, Emma just wanted to play.

She jumped and yapped and generally invited Chelsea to join in the fun. He just stared at her, quizzically. Eventually she started her Running in Circles game and, after about five laps, Chelsea joined in. While he seemed to enjoy the chase, he did look somewhat mystified.

His owners, when they caught up, told me he was a Rescue Dog who had spent his short life working on a farm and he didn’t seem to understand the concept of playing. I think he mistook Emma for a caramel lamb and was trying to work out how to herd her into a sheep dip in an effort to remove the worst of the mud.

Eventually, Chelsea grew tired of the game and ran off. Naturally, Emma ran after him, which just made him run faster. Emma came back, looking a bit sad at the loss of a new, if somewhat reluctant, playpal.

Muddy and proud